


Happy Man

by ru_salki99 (orphan_account)



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Fallen Castiel, Fluff, M/M, Post Apocalypse, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-19
Updated: 2011-10-19
Packaged: 2017-10-24 18:59:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 11,971
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/266774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/ru_salki99
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Castiel returns to Pontiac, things don't quite work out like he had planned.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> At the Jus In Bello convention 2010, someone asked Misha how he would like to see Castiel's story end. Misha answered by saying that he would like Cas and Jimmy to fuse together and return to his wife and kid... so I just had to write a fic about it.

“Dean this is pointless.”

“Music is not pointless Cas,” Dean said as he ejected Metallica from the tape deck and handed it off to Castiel, gesturing for him to choose another.

They were on there way to meet up with Sam and Dean had decided that with Castiel soon to become human, it was about time he taught him about the beauty of classic rock.

“I wasn’t talking about music in general,” Castiel said with a sigh as he began to examine the tapes they had yet to try out. “I already know what kind of music I like.”

“You do?” Dean asked in surprise.

“Yes. I like, Jimmy he liked The Beatles,” Castiel explained. “And I find them pleasant also.”

Dean was silent for a moment as he thought about what Castiel was telling him, “How does that work then?” he asked. “You and Jimmy? I mean, if you’re becoming human…”

“Jimmy’s soul has moved on,” Castiel said quietly, “but I have his memories. I feel… it’s like they’re my own.”

“You have his memories?”

“Yes. I remember the day I met Amelia, the way the sun shone down on her hair and the way she smiled with her friends and I had known then, before I had even spoken to her that I would marry her. I remember the day Claire was born, how after years of Amelia suffering from miscarriages we finally had this miracle, this beautiful little girl who I loved with my entire being would gladly give my life for. And I did. I gave my life for her and I miss her.”

When Castiel finished speaking and looked back down into the tape box, an uncomfortable silence fell over them.

“Cas,” Dean began gently, “you do know that they’re not your memories though right? That they’re Jimmy’s.”

“But I am Jimmy,” Castiel said. “I am becoming Jimmy and he is becoming me. As my grace fades, the remnants of him within me are melding with my soul as it grows.”

Dean wasn’t sure what to say to that. He already knew about the soul that was growing in place of the fading grace, Castiel had explained it to him, he just had no idea what Castiel and Jimmy becoming the same person meant.

“So what other kind of music do you like then?” he asked, deciding to probe Castiel about it all at some other point.

“Seasick Steve.”

“Seasick Steve? Who the hell is he?”

“He’s a blues singer. He’s very good,” Castiel told him. “My favourite song of his is ‘Happy Man’. I think you’d enjoy his music.”

“I’m sure I would,” Dean said with a shake of his head, not quite able to wrap his brain around the idea that Castiel liked the blues, “but right now all we got is classic rock, so pick something already.”

Castiel lifted a tape out of the box and pushed it into the tape deck. As the opening notes of Led Zepplin’s ‘Immigrant Song’ started Dean smiled, and then grinned when Castiel reached forward to turn up the volume. So his taste in music wasn’t completely in his ass then.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 _THREE MONTHS LATER_

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Sam asked.

“How the hell should I know?” Dean grumbled. “I promised him I would bring him back here to see them, and that’s what I’ve done.”

Sam was silent for a moment as he stared out the diner window. The apocalypse was over, ending in a thoroughly underwhelming flash of light that they’d assumed was God finally getting his ass in gear. And now a month later, with Castiel finally human and the angels finally gone off to perch on their clouds they had ended up in Illinois.

Sam had called Amelia Novak at Castiel’s behest to tell her it was safe to return home, and then a week later Castiel had asked if they could drive up to Pontiac to see them. Dean had then explained about Castiel and Jimmy being one in the same now, which had confused Sam at first but he hadn’t really seen any change in Castiel’s personality so shrugged it off and just accepted it for what it was.

So here they were, he and Dean sitting in some crappy diner getting themselves some lunch while Castiel spent the afternoon with Amelia and Claire; his wife and daughter.

Now that was weird now that he thought about it. Castiel, technically had a wife and a daughter. He had a premade life just waiting for him to return to. If he wanted it that was, and well, if he was as much Jimmy as he said he was then Sam was pretty sure he would.

Which was probably why Dean was so grumpy.

“You think he’ll stay?” Sam asked him.

Dean looked up from the food he was uncharacteristically not eating and scowled. He didn’t answer though which meant that yes, he did. As he turned back to his food, pushing his fries around with his fork, he finally opened his mouth to speak, “You ever heard him talking about Claire?”

“No.”

“He talks about her like a father should talk about their little girl,” he said. “He remembers how her first words had been ‘uh oh’ after she tipped a bowl of food into his lap. He’d been too amused to give her into trouble and just said uh oh right back.”

“But that’s good right?” Sam asked. “Claire’s gonna get her Dad back?”

“Yeah, I suppose. I guess it all depends on what Amelia says.”

Sam watched as Dean continued to play with his food. He had never seen his brother like this before and wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. He knew that if Dean asked Castiel to stay with them that Castiel would, but Dean wouldn’t do that. He cared too much about Castiel to be that selfish, which was and always had been Dean’s problem – selfish just wasn’t a word in his vocabulary.

Of course, he had no idea if Dean was aware of his own feelings for Castiel. Sam was, he could see it a mile off. Dean had never been like this with anyone, not even Cassie who he’d openly told Sam he loved. But he was just besotted with Castiel, told him things that he would never have told anyone before, deliberately went out of his way to do things for Castiel that had he just been a friend or an acquaintance, Sam knew he would never have thought to do.

He was in short, in love with the ex-angel, which was why he wouldn’t ask Castiel to stay.

Castiel cared about Dean too, technically became human for him. So, he had to love him back right? But then, he loved Amelia too, and Sam knew that when it came to children, most parents picked the children over any potential lover… well, the good ones did anyway.

So they sat in the diner for another hour, not eating their food and only sipping at coffee before Castiel called and asked them to come back to the house.

The drove in complete silence, Dean lost in his own thoughts while Sam tried to brace himself for whatever was waiting for them at the Novak’s home and how that would change his brother… because it would, there was no doubt about it.

When they pulled up to the house, Castiel was sitting on the steps outside waiting for them. Sam got out the car first, not surprised when Dean didn’t immediately follow him.

“Am I that predictable?” Castiel asked as Sam walked up to him.

Sam shook his head, “We just know you,” he told him with a smile. “So, you’re gonna make a go of this then? Family life?”

Castiel nodded slightly, “It would seem the best thing to do,” he told him. “I’ll be staying in the guest room to start, and we’ll see how things go from there. But I think, I think I could be happy here.”

It was on the tip of Sam’s tongue to tell him that he’d be happy with Dean too, but he didn’t. It wasn’t his place to do so. Instead he stepped forward and pulled Castiel into a quick hug, patting him awkwardly on the back. As he pulled away, he heard the sound of a car door slamming shut and knew that Dean had finally got out of the car.

“I’ll uh, I’ll go get your stuff out the trunk,” Sam told him, knowing that Dean would probably need a moment alone with Castiel.

Castiel stood on the bottom step as he faced Dean, making him just a little bit taller as they spoke. Sam watched from the rear of the car, trying to garner some kind of idea of what was being said exactly. He couldn’t see Dean’s face, but his posture was stiff and well controlled as if he was deliberately trying to hide his emotions from Castiel.

Meanwhile Castiel was smiling softly, nodding every now and again and looking over his shoulder to the house for a second. Then he laughed softly and clearly said ‘yeah, I know’ before Dean reached out and patted him gently on the shoulder. Sam rolled his eyes at Dean’s inability to express the basics of emotions, but then Castiel pulled Dean into strong embrace, wrapping his arms around him fully. Dean didn’t move at first but then began to copy his stance, and held onto Castiel tightly.

Sam watched as Castiel’s eyes fell closed and he buried his face in the crook of Dean’s neck for a second before letting go. Yeah, these two definitely loved each other and were stupidly going to throw it all away. Sighing, he slammed the trunk shut and made his way back over to them with Castiel’s bag.

“Thank you Sam,” Castiel said as he handed it over.

“No worries,” Sam shrugged. “You sure about this Cas?”

Castiel sighed, “No. Not entirely. But it’s worth a try right?”

“Sure, I guess,” Sam said, before he turned to Dean. “Come on, we got a case waiting for us.”

“Right,” Dean nodded, his voice a little rough around the edges as he looked at Castiel. “You keep in touch right?”

“Of course,” Castiel nodded.

“And you call us if you need anything. Anything you hear?”

“Yes Dean. I hear you,” Castiel said with a soft smile.

“Okay. Well…” he trailed off not knowing what else to say before turning round and heading back to the car.

“Bye Cas,” Sam said, completely understanding why his brother had been unable to do the same.

“Bye Sam.”

As they drove away, Castiel stood and watched them, returning Sam’s wave when it was given. But Dean didn’t look back once.

~*~*~*~*~*~

 _TWO MONTHS LATER_

Dean and Sam had been all over the country and back again, doing their usual and hunting. There was a serious lack of demons, which they didn’t actually feel the need to complain about, but there were plenty of hauntings and supernatural creatures to be dealt with.

They were actually just crossing the border into Iowa headed towards Bobby’s after having destroyed a nest of vampires when Dean’s phone went off, Led Zepplin’s Immigrant Song blasting out from his pants pocket.

It was the ring tone that Dean had assigned to Castiel to replace ‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’ after he became human. He could have given him one of those weird bluesy songs that Castiel liked so much, but Immigrant Song just seemed so much more appropriate.

Scrambling to pull his phone out his pocket while trying not to let go of the wheel and crash, Dean quickly answered.

“Hey Cas, what’s up?” he asked.

“Where are you?” Castiel asked him hastily, the sound of some sort of argument going on in the background.

Dean and Castiel often spoke on the phone, at least once a week and Castiel’s usual greeting was just plain old ‘Hello Dean’. He hadn’t answered with ‘Where are you?’ since long before the end of the apocalypse, so Dean was a little startled, taking longer than usual to answer.

“Dean, where are you?”

“Iowa. Why?” Dean asked curiously when he finally managed to answer him.

“Can you come and get me?” Castiel asked. “Amelia is… I think she’s throwing me out.”

Dean felt his eyebrows rise into his hairline. Amelia was throwing Castiel out? After all this time? What the hell had he done?

“Sure. We’ll be there in a few hours. Sit tight.”

“Thank you,” Castiel said before hanging up.

“What’s going on?” Sam asked as Dean turned the car around.

“Cas fucked up. Amelia’s throwing him out.”

Sam frowned, obviously wondering the same thing as Dean. But thankfully didn’t try to speculate as it would be easier just waiting to hear it all from Castiel himself. No doubt, it was something ridiculous like he kept leaving the toilet seat up or something.

The roads were pretty quiet, so they managed to get there sooner than they had hoped, however as they drove up the street they couldn’t help but notice that small crowds of suburbian folk had gathered to watch as Amelia Novak threw all of Castiel’s belongings out of the upstairs windows, down onto Castiel who was in the garden, looking absolutely helpless.

They pulled up at the bottom of the drive and climbed out of the car to hear Castiel trying to placate the apparently hysterical woman.

“Amelia, please. Be reasonable,” he said as his underwear drawer was tipped out all over him.

“Reasonable? This is me being reasonable!” she shouted.

Dean turned to Sam and jerked his head at the trunk of their car. Sam nodded his understanding to him and went to grab a duffle for Castiel to put his things in, emptying it of the couple of wooden steaks that had been sitting inside it already while Dean approached Castiel.

“Cas?” he asked as he watched the man bending to pick up his clothes from the grass.

“Hello Dean,” Castiel said deflatedly.

“You wanna tell me what’s going on here?” Dean asked as he began to help him, dumping the stuff into the bag Sam was holding wide open.

“Oh and of course you called him didn’t you?!” Amelia shrieked from above them.

“Amelia!” Castiel shouted up at her in warning, sounding more like a disgruntled husband than ever before.

Amelia scowled and disappeared.

“See Sammy, this is why I never got married,” Dean said with a slight laugh, the hilarity of the situation settling in.

“Dean,” Sam said with a disapproving scowl, but what ever they were about to say was interrupted as the door to the house opened and out stepped Amelia carrying a pile of books.

She threw the books onto the ground and stepped down towards them, ignoring Castiel’s pleads about how the books were ancient and should be handled with care. Instead she headed straight for Dean and punched him square on the nose.

“What the fuck?!” He shouted as he grabbed his face, surprised at the pain but thankful that she hadn’t busted it open or broken it.

“You deserve it,” she hissed at Dean before turning to Castiel. “I want Jimmy’s ring.”

Castiel looked at her in surprise mixed with a little hurt, “Amelia. Can we please talk about this?” he asked her softly.

Amelia looked at him then back at Dean who was still cradling his nose and scowling at her over his hand, “You’ll never be happy here Castiel,” she told him, “not completely.”

Castiel stared at her for a moment as if processing her words slowly before removing the ring from his wedding finger and handing it over. Amelia took it gratefully and about turned, heading back into the house and slamming the door behind her.

Dean turned to Castiel who had gone back to picking up his things with Sam helping.

“So now do you want to tell me what’s going on?” he asked.

“Not particularly,” Castiel said, blushing a little as he did his best to avoid Dean’s stare.

Dean rolled his eyes and threw his hands up into the air, “Whatever dude,” he told him and marched over to the car.

Sam stayed and helped Castiel pick up the last of his things, carrying in his arms what wouldn’t fit into the bag, “Will you tell me?” he eventually asked.

Castiel looked up at him and then back at the car where Dean was looking up into the rear view mirror and prodding at his nose, “I said the wrong name,” he told him quietly.

Sam frowned, “What do you mean… oh.”

Castiel nodded, “Yes. Oh.”

“I uh, I had no idea that you and Amelia were… y’know.”

“We weren’t,” Castiel shrugged. “It was this morning, the first time. My first time and I… I didn’t even realise what I had said until she pushed me away and started shouting.”

“Dad?”

Sam and Castiel turned to see Claire Novak coming round the side of the house, a sad look in her eyes. While Sam tried to get over the shock that Claire was calling Castiel ‘Dad’ – even if it was half true – Castiel sighed and held out his hand to her.

Claire stepped forward and into his embrace, “I don’t want you to go,” she told him.

“I know,” Castiel told her, “but your mother and I… our relationship is so much more different than the one I have with you. Staying would only make us both miserable.”

Claire nodded and stepped back, “Will I see you again?”

“Of course,” Castiel said with a smile as he pushed her hair away from her face. “If I don’t come to visit, then you can come and visit me.”

Claire smiled at that and hugged him again.

“You have my number,” Castiel said. “If you need anything, even if it’s just to talk nonsense, call me.”

“I will,” Claire said quietly before looking up at him. “I know you’re not the same as him, but… you’re a brilliant Dad and I’m glad I have you.”

Castiel smiled again, his eyes brimming with tears, “And you are the most wonderful daughter anyone could wish for,” he told her before placing a soft kiss on her head. “I will speak with you soon. Now go, your mother needs you.”

Reluctantly, Claire stepped away, giving Sam a shy smile before walking back the way she came and sending Castiel one last small wave before she disappeared.

“Come on,” Sam said as he placed a small hand on his shoulder. “We should go.”

Castiel nodded silently as he took his bag from Sam and turned towards the car, his breath catching a little as he noticed Dean watching him carefully, his eyes full of concern and sore nose suddenly forgotten about.

“Oh and you’re going to have to tell him sometime,” Sam added before trotting back to the car in front of him.

Castiel sighed and followed, opening up the back of the car and throwing his bag in first before he glanced back at the house. One of the bedroom curtains twitched a little, letting him know that Amelia was watching carefully. With regret and a small hope that he would be able to find his place in the world, he climbed into the car and pulled the door closed behind him.

“You coming to Bobby’s?” Dean asked him as he turned round to look at him.

“I have nowhere else to go,” Castiel said with a shrug.

Dean pursed his lips a little and reached over to pat his shoulder companionably before turning back round again.

“So, Sabbath or AC/DC?” he asked the car in general as he pulled out and began to drive away.

“Zepplin,” Castiel said from the back, not surprising Dean one little bit.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Sam had called ahead to let Bobby know that Castiel would be joining them. He didn’t tell him that it was because Amelia had thrown him out, but he probably guessed, as why else would Castiel be with them?

Not much was said on the journey, Castiel too lost in his own thoughts as he stared out the back window, Dean constantly checking on him in the rear view mirror while Sam tried not to think too much about how the silence between them all was becoming rather uncomfortable.

“Hey Sammy, hand me that new tape,” Dean said as the Zepplin tape started to play again for the second time.

Sam dutifully reached inside the box and pulled out the new tape, that he had never listened to but guessed Dean had at least once, as it didn’t look nearly as worn as the others. It had a hand written label on the side and Sam raised an eyebrow at it, never having heard of the artist before.

Dean ignored him though and popped into the tape deck and turned the volume up. The car was instantly filled the sound of a soft drum beat and slow bluesy guitars. Sam looked at Dean liked he’d grown another head while Castiel perked up in the backseat.

“You’ve got Seasick Steve?” he asked as he leaned over the seat.

Dean grinned and looked behind him quickly, “Yeah. I figured I let Sam have his Miley Cyrus tape, so you can have one too.”

Sam rolled his eyes, ignoring the jibe in favour of letting Castiel enjoy the first genuine smile to appear on his face since they left Pontiac. Although, the fact that Dean actually went out and made a tape for Castiel of one of the bands he liked, a blues band and not classic rock, and was playing it in the car for him? Now that was love.

“I’ve still got the CD somewhere,” Dean told him over the music, “you can have that for when you’re, y’know, not in the car.”

“Thank you Dean,” Castiel said with another smile and sat back in his seat.

Castiel was a little bit more talkative after that, but mostly he talked about Claire or asked them how they were adjusting back to life without the apocalypse and archangels looming over them. Sam watched them both closely, watched how Castiel sometimes sat forward and gently placed a hand on Dean’s shoulder, or how Dean would twist round to grin at him for a second before turning back to the road.

While life on the road without Castiel hadn’t been as miserable and unbearable as Sam had expected it to be; he had been prepared for Dean moping about, getting drunk and sleeping with random girls to try and forget, he hadn’t done any of that. Well, not really. Of course he’d gotten drunk and had moped a bit, but not to the extremes that Sam had expected. And, he hadn’t even looked at any girls. If Sam hadn’t already known that it was because he was completely love sick over Castiel, he would’ve been worried.

He just hoped that Castiel realised that he obviously wasn’t meant to be with Amelia, while he may love her, Dean was the person he should be spending the rest of his life with. But then, he had to get Dean to realise that himself too.

They got to Bobby’s in the early evening, and were more than happy to smell freshly cooked food as soon as they walked through the door.

While Dean immediately went into the kitchen, Castiel said hello to Bobby and thanked him for letting him stay while Sam took their bags into the living room. They could sort out who was sleeping where later, but he had a feeling that Castiel would insist on taking the couch so as not to put anyone else out.

In saying that though, the beds up stairs weren’t exactly anymore comfortable than the couch, so it wasn’t like he’d be losing out to something. Where ever he slept, it was probably going to feel weird after having slept in a proper bed for the past two months and next to a warm body for God knows how long – although he doubted it was really that long as Castiel, for all his righteousness, was still a dude and had urges just like the rest of them.

“Are you guys eating or what?” Dean called from the kitchen, probably not wanting to look like the glutton he was by eating all the food himself.

Sam traipsed into the kitchen behind Castiel and Bobby and sat himself down at the table next to Castiel, while Bobby and Dean dished out the food. As they ate, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of chewing, and appreciative hmms to Bobby.

Then Castiel’s cell phone rang.

“Sorry,” he muttered as he pulled it out of his pants pocket. He stared down at the name on the display before sighing loudly and hitting the answer button. “Hello mother.”

Sam, along with Dean and Bobby all started in surprise. Mother? They had all gotten used to the idea of Castiel slotting back into Jimmy’s life with Amelia and Claire, but they hadn’t figured on him having parents.

“I would have called you sooner, but I’ve been travelling for hours, and to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what happened… no I’m not going to disappear on you again,” Castiel said with an eye roll as he pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mom, will you just listen please? I can’t control communication between Amelia and her parents. I had hoped that I would get the chance to speak to her again before she started to announce it to the world. As it is, you’re just going to have to make do with learning about it a couple of hours after the fact.”

Sam looked up at Dean who was sitting opposite Castiel and was watching him closely, as if worried that Castiel’s mom – that was so fucking weird – would try to convince him to leave.

“I’m staying at a friends in South Dakota,” Castiel said into the phone as he sat back in his seat and rubbed a hand over his tired face. “Bobby. He’s a retired hunter. Yes, like Dean and Sam. Yes, they’re here too. No, I don’t know what I’m going to do,” he told her, “but as soon as I do I’ll call you okay? No mom, mom? I can’t hear you. You’re breaking up. I…” Castiel cut himself off and hung up the phone, deliberately hanging up on his mother.

“You told your mom about us?” Dean asked after a couple of seconds silence.

Castiel shrugged, “She wanted to know where I’d been and who with and why I all of a sudden had a pentagram tattooed on my chest,” he explained. “And I never actually mentioned you by name. Claire did.”

“Right. So… I take it she’s pissed about you getting thrown out then?”

“You could say that,” Castiel nodded. “Although she’s never really liked Amelia, so you would think she’d be dancing for joy.”

“That’s women for you,” Bobby said. “Whether they’re your wife, mother, sister, daughter… all they ever do is mess with your head.”

Castiel smiled a little at that, as if completely understanding what Bobby was saying, which was beyond weird in Sam’s book as the two had hardly been on speaking terms before the big fight.

“But we love them anyways right?” Castiel laughed before picking his fork back up and digging into his food.

Sam watched him for a moment and watched how Dean only pretended to eat his food again, looking up at Castiel through his lashes every now and again. Then he caught Bobby’s eye. The older man winked at Sam and that’s when Sam realised that he had an ally in all of this, that he wasn’t the only one to see what was between Dean and Castiel, making him hopeful that he wouldn’t be left to sort them both out on his own.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Dean had been sitting outside on the porch, watching the sun go down and drinking a beer. Sam had come out to try and talk to him earlier, but he hadn’t really been in the mood. He had too much going on in his head.

Castiel was back, but he wasn’t sure if he really was, or for how long. And if he was back, then how would that work? He knew how he felt about the man, how much he wanted him, but Castiel didn’t feel the same and to have him around… well it would be awesome, but he knew it would be painful too. Having him there but being unable to actually have him, it would be worse than Hell.

With his beer long finished and the sun gone for the night an hour or so ago, Dean decided he should at least head back inside. The late spring air, while comfortably warm, wasn’t pleasant enough to stay out in with only a t-shirt like Dean was wearing. So, shielding himself from the chill, he made his way back into the house, locking the door behind him and dumping his empty bottle in the garbage as he did so.

He couldn’t hear any voices so figured that they must have all gone to bed, which meant he was on the couch. Sighing to himself, he made his way into the living room, halting in surprise when he saw Castiel sitting there with a pile of paper spread out in front of him.

“You’re still up?” Dean asked.

“Yeah, I don’t sleep much anymore,” he said, “I think it’s left over from my angel days when I didn’t sleep at all.”

“Maybe,” Dean nodded as he stepped over to the couch and sat down next to him, “would make sense. What’s that you got there?”

“Oh, it’s the documents I asked Bobby for,” Castiel explained, passing one over to Dean.

Dean looked down at it, surprised to see that he was looking at the birth certificate of James Castiel Novak.

“You went with James Castiel and not Castiel James?” Dean asked curiously.

Castiel shrugged, “Amelia was calling me Jimmy, my mother calls me Jimmy. All of the family friends call me Jimmy. It just made sense.”

“Do you prefer that?” Dean asked. “I mean, would you rather we called you Jimmy too?”

Castiel smiled softly as he looked down at his driver’s license, “Actually I prefer Cas,” he told him. “Jimmy and Castiel are names given to me in my past lives. Cas… well, it’s my name. So no, I wouldn’t prefer to be called Jimmy.”

“Good,” Dean said with a smile of his own as he handed the birth certificate back to Castiel, “’cause I got to tell you, it would feel a little weird. I’m still trying to get my head round the fact that you’ve got a mom.”

“So am I,” Castiel said seriously.

“What about your dad?” Dean asked. “I mean, not God, but your other dad. Jimmy’s dad?”

“He died a few years ago. Lung cancer.”

“You got any brothers? Sisters? Old girlfriends?”

“No, I was an only child. Amelia has a brother, but he’s a dick so I don’t really talk to him. And I started Amelia in my freshman year of college, so no old girlfriends either.”

They were both silent for a moment before Dean gently elbowed Castiel, “You gonna be okay man? I mean, you were wanting to make a go of things and now…”

“I’ll be fine Dean,” Castiel said as he sat back, shoulder to shoulder with him. “I’m not going to deny that I would have liked for things with Amelia and Claire to work out. But deep down I guess I’ve always known that it wouldn’t. I’ve changed almost beyond recognition. I’m a whole new person now. And Amelia has changed too. No, she’s not the one I’m meant to spend eternity with. I know that now. I’m just sad it ended the way it did. I never meant to hurt her.”

Dean looked at him for a moment, finding it hard to focus when he was this close, but his eyes were automatically drawn to those long lashes that brushed off Castiel’s cheeks with every blink.

“You gonna tell me what happened between you two?” Dean asked softly.

Castiel bit his lip as he thought about it, “I will,” he nodded. “But not yet.”

Dean tried not to sigh. If Castiel wasn’t ready then he wasn’t going to force him, “Okay. Well I’m here whenever you need me,” he said instead as he patted him gently on the knee.

“I know. Thank you,” Castiel replied before watching as Dean rose to his feet.

“I’m gonna call it a night,” he told him. “You should at least try and get some sleep.”

“Good night Dean.”

“Yeah, night Cas.”

Dean grabbed his bag and headed up the stairs to the bed that was waiting for him. He knew Sam would’ve taken the one with the bigger bed, what with his freakishly long body, so he headed straight for the room with the slightly smaller, lumpier bed. When he got there, he dropped his bag in the corner and kicked off his boots as he sat down. He wasn’t sure if he even had the energy to shuck out of his jeans, but he did so anyway before placing his gun under his pillow and sliding under the sheets.

After shuffling about for a while, trying to get comfortable, he lay staring up at the ceiling and thinking about the man who was sitting downstairs. When Castiel had said that he no longer wanted to be with Amelia, Dean had wanted to jump for joy; to pick Castiel up and twirl him around the room in celebration. But he hadn’t of course. He was sure Castiel wouldn’t have appreciated it and so had kept his cool and acted like the best buddy, just like he had all these long months.

He liked that he was Castiel’s best friend and Castiel his, but it just… he felt sick at himself for wishing it was more. He’d never had a proper friend before – unless you counted Bobby, which he didn’t ‘cause he was more of a father than anything – and here he was, wishing it was something else and ready to ruin it should Castiel give him the nod.

He was such a fool. The sooner he got over this little crush or whatever the hell it was, the better off everyone would be.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Dean was up before everyone else. Or so he thought. He still didn’t really sleep more than five hours at a time, even though his nightmares weren’t as common as they used to be and there was less of a threat at Bobby’s, he just couldn’t get out of the habit to relax enough.

As he made his way to the kitchen to get himself the biggest mug of coffee, he paused as he heard Castiel talking. He knew no one else was up as he’d heard Sam’s snores as he walked past his room upstairs and Bobby didn’t get up before seven unless there was something to kill, so he guessed he was on the phone.

“Claire, I know it’s going to be hard, but this isn’t the end of the world. It’s just, a new chapter in all of our lives,” he heard Castiel saying. “Both your mother and I will be a lot stronger and happier and be able to provide for you if we’re not together… she told you I was gay?”

Dean started in surprise. Gay? What?

“Not exactly,” Castiel said with a heavy sigh. “Okay listen, angels have no gender. We can possess both males and females. If anyone should know that it should be you,” he began to explain, “and we don’t differentiate between genders when it comes to finding someone attractive. Physical appearance doesn’t really mean anything, it’s the brightness of their soul that counts.”

Dean had of course known most of this, or at least guessed it. It was just weird hearing Castiel explain it like that to his daughter, the girl he had once possessed… now that was freakin’ weird.

“No, I’m not involved with another man,” Castiel said and Dean could just hear him rolling his eyes at that, “but I do have feelings for one. And before you ask, no he’s not in Pontiac.”

Dean wasn’t sure he wanted to hear anymore. The thought of Castiel having feelings for some guy, some guy who wasn’t him was just too hard to stand and listen to. He wanted him to be happy, he really did, he just… didn’t need to hear the details.

He moved away from the door and continued on his way to the kitchen and put on a pot of coffee. He stood there for a moment, watching as the water began to boil, trying his best to compose himself before the others came in.

As the kettle began to steam he turned towards the toaster. He wasn’t feeling particularly hungry, but Sammy had been on his ass for the past few months to at least try and eat three square meals a day. Usually he wouldn’t have any problems eating, but sometimes, just sometimes he had no appetite.

He grabbed the loaf of bread and shoved a couple of slices in the toaster just as Castiel walked into the kitchen, clad in only a t-shirt and boxers, his hair flat on one side where he’d been sleeping on it. He looked utterly adorable.

“Oh… I uh, I didn’t hear anyone get up,” he said with a blush.

“It’s okay,” Dean said with a smile, “ain’t like you’ve got anything different from the rest of us.”

Castiel returned his smile, “Still I was just coming to put some coffee on before getting dressed. But I see you’ve already done that so… I should really put some pants on.”

Dean shrugged and turned back to watch his bread as it toasted. He heard Castiel pad back into the living room and some rustling for a few minutes before he padded back in again, and something about him walking about in bare feet made Dean’s breath hitch… even though he was in a similar state.

“So how are you taking your coffee these days?” Dean asked him.

“The same, although Amelia tried to get me to take it like Jimmy used to with lots of milk and sugar, it was disgusting,” Castiel told him as he opened the fridge. “Do you want some pancakes? I’m in the mood for pancakes.”

Dean whipped his head round to look at him, “You make pancakes?”

“Yes. Is that… Jimmy knew how.”

“Yeah I guessed that,” Dean said with a friendly smile. “Sure, I’ll take some pancakes if you’re offering. You’ll need to make some for the other two though or they’ll get pissy.”

Castiel smiled and went about looking for the stuff he needed.

“So, who were you on the phone too?” Dean asked as he poured Castiel a strong black coffee with nothing else added.

“Oh, uh Claire,” Castiel said, the tips of his ear reddening a little.

“She’s up early.”

“It’s a school day,” Castiel informed him. “Anyway, she over heard Amelia on the phone to one of her girlfriends and well, she knows why I left and wanted to ask me about it.”

“She okay?” Dean asked him as he leaned back against the worktop, toast sitting beside him on a plate while watching as Castiel began to heat up the pan and get the mix ready.

“She will be,” Castiel said quietly. “She wanted to come visit this weekend, but I thought it best to wait until I knew what I was doing before we tried to organise visits.”

“What are you gonna do?” Dean asked. “Are you gonna come with us, stay here, go back to Pontiac?”

Castiel sighed, “I have no idea,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t think I’ll go back to Pontiac though. Apart from Claire, there’s not really much for me there. I don’t have a job, friends or any kind of a life really.”

“So married life’s not all it’s cracked up to be,” Dean said with a smile, sipping at his coffee.

“Don’t get me wrong,” Castiel said as he poured the first lot of mix into the pan, “I can see where the appeal comes from. But, being a house husband is… well it’s lonely.”

Dean was silent for a moment, hating to think of Castiel as lonely when he could’ve been with him at any time.

“You could’ve called sooner,” Dean said softly, “if you weren’t happy that is.”

“I didn’t know that I wasn’t,” Castiel admitted, “not until you pulled up in the Impala and I felt this overwhelming sense of relief. It was like, I was finally home.”

As he spoke, Castiel had turned to Dean and had slid closer to him until they were merely a foot apart. They stood there, staring at each other, their breath mingling together as they basked in each other’s presence. Dean had been up close and personal with Castiel before, but he’d never felt the overwhelming need to close the distance between them, not as strongly as this anyhow. When Castiel licked his lips, he knew that he was going to do something monumentally stupid here, but before he could, Sam ‘The Cock-Blocker’ Winchester strolled into the kitchen.

“Is someone making pancakes?”

Dean jumped back from Castiel, backing into the corner of the worktop while Castiel went back to the pan to flip the pancake that was surely burned by now.

“Would you like some?” Castiel asked over his shoulder.

“Um, yeah,” Sam said as he looked back and forth between them both, as if just realising that he’d interrupted. “Thanks.”

“You know what Cas,” Dean said as he picked up his mug and his plate of toast, “I think I’m gonna pass on the pancakes this morning.”

“Are you sure?” Castiel asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Dean nodded. “Thanks though.”

Dean took his breakfast and headed back up to his room, unable to remain that close to Castiel for much longer without just grabbing the guy and throwing him over the table, pancakes be damned.

He was well and truly completely fucked here and he had no idea what to do about it.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two days later and Dean was off fiddling with his car or something, Sam wasn’t sure but he had noticed that his brother was going off on his own more and more since that incident in the kitchen the other morning. He couldn’t believe his idiocy, he just hadn’t figured that Dean would be up and that he and Castiel would have gotten that close that quick.

And of course, since then, Dean had made sure that he hadn’t been in any kind of position that might lead to kissing or any other touchy feely crap. Castiel probably thought that this meant that he had no chance with Dean what so ever.

Castiel.

He was doing better. He no longer had this ‘kicked puppy’ look about him all the time. He spoke to Claire at least twice a day, in the morning before she went to school and in the evening before she went to bed. He had also spoken to Amelia, but that had ended up in an argument about divorce and alimony and whether they were technically married or not. Sam figured they were since Jimmy had never officially died and he guessed that Castiel did too as Sam had overheard him talking to Bobby about getting a lawyer.

He was currently out on the porch on the phone again, Sam wasn’t sure if it was to Claire (it was a Saturday so she wasn’t at school) or his mother or a lawyer or what, but he went out to join him anyway.

“I doubt very much your mother would allow to just get on a bus by yourself,” Castiel said into the phone – so it was Claire then, “in fact, I wouldn’t exactly be thrilled at the idea either.”

Sam leaned against the railing and Castiel gave him a small nod of recognition.

“Once I’m settled and have my own apartment or house then you can come visit,” Castiel continued. “The summer holidays are only a few weeks away. How about I organise something with your mother so you can come visit then? Okay, yeah I miss you too honey. Have fun on your not a date,” Castiel trailed off, laughing a little at whatever protests Claire was making on the other side of the phone before finally saying goodbye.

“Not a date?” Sam asked him.

“Andrew Marsh has invited her to go to the mall,” Castiel explained. “But it’s not a date ‘cause they’ll both have friends with them.”

Sam couldn’t help but smile, he remembered wishing he had gotten invited to the mall when he’d been her age, “Ah, young love.”

“Yes, so much simpler when you’re that age,” Castiel said with a slight nod before looking out over the salvage yard to where they could see Dean in the distance, doing his best to take apart an old dodge.

“So, have you told him yet?” Sam asked him.

“No,” Castiel said, “and I’m not sure if it would be wise to do so.”

“Are you kidding me?” Sam asked. “Castiel, he’s crazy about you, not telling him would just be cruel.”

Castiel looked at him with a raised eyebrow, “Your brother is not crazy about me,” he said. “He merely sees us as friends.”

“Cas, no,” Sam said with a shake of his head.

“If he has feelings for me, then why didn’t he ask me to stay with him instead of letting me go back to Amelia?” Castiel asked him.

“You’re an idiot, you know that?” Sam told him. “For someone who supposedly loves Dean, you really don’t know much about him do you?”

“What do you mean?” Castiel asked with a confused frown.

“It’s because he cares about you that he didn’t ask you to stay,” Sam explained. “In his head, you being with Amelia is what would have made you happy, and all he wants more than anything else, is for you to be happy.”

“But, I don’t understand,” Castiel said. “Doesn’t he want to be happy himself?”

“Cas, in Dean’s world, the only way he can be happy is by sacrificing himself for the ones he loves. But he’s always wrong about that. I mean, look at him. The guy’s miserable. The only thing that can make him truly happy, is you.”

And with that, Sam pushed himself up off the railing and headed back into the house, nodding to Bobby who had been the one to send him out there in the first place.

“You think it’ll work?” Sam asked as he went to grab a beer from the fridge.

“If it doesn’t, then we’re gonna have two seriously depressed men on our hands. And I don’t know about you, but I really don’t want to have to deal with either of them if they’re gonna be all ‘woe is me’ all the time,” Bobby said as he accepted a beer off of Sam.

Sam sighed and leaned back against the fridge, “The two of them are just as stubborn as each other,” he said. “I mean, Cas spent all that time with Dean when he was becoming human and he’s probably the worst person to learn about self expression from.”

“Well, if all else fails,” Bobby began, “we can lock ‘em in the panic room and leave ‘em there ‘til they come to their senses.”

Sam smiled, the thought of shoving Dean and Cas in their together with nothing but an old ratty mattress amusing him greatly. He turned and looked out the kitchen window and could see Castiel just standing there, watching Dean in the distance. He hoped what he had said to him sunk in. They both deserved to be happy and to have love, Dean especially as he had never truly experienced what it felt like to wake up next to and come home to the same person every day, just how amazing it felt to know that they would always be there, to have someone shower you with devotion all the time and never expect anything in return.

“You okay Sam?” Bobby asked, his worried voice penetrating Sam’s thoughts.

“Yeah I just… thinking about Jess,” he admitted.

He very rarely talked about Jess and when he did it was only ever to Dean, never to Bobby. Which, when you thought about it was a bit backwards as Bobby was the only one who could really relate.

“You know, I’ve never visited her grave,” he said quietly. “I mean, it’s not actually a grave since the fire… there wasn’t anything to bury. But, there’s a headstone and I’ve never visited it.”

“I get that,” Bobby said quietly, “I don’t visit Karen often.”

“You don’t?” Sam asked, turning to look down at him curiously.

Bobby shook his head, “I know she’s gone, feel it every night when I go to bed and she’s not there with me. Just don’t need to have it thrust in my face, knowing that I, that it was my fault.”

Sam didn’t argue with Bobby. He knew what it was like to lose the love of your life when it could’ve been avoided. He still had no idea why Azazel had killed Jess, there had been no need for it other than to give Sam nightmares.

“So how did you meet Karen anyway?” Sam asked, deciding to lighten the mood a little bit. His own depression he could deal with, but he hated to see Bobby so down.

“We went to school together,” Bobby told him with a wistful smile. “We weren’t anything special like a cheerleader or jock or nothin, but we loved each other from the age of fifteen and never stopped.”

Sam smiled at him and turned back to the window, starting in surprise a little when he realised that Castiel was gone and that Dean was no longer working on that dodge.

“Think Cas might be making his move,” he said distractedly.

“About fucking time,” Bobby grumbled, making Sam smile even more.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Castiel stood and watched Dean from the safety of Bobby’s porch; watched the way he methodically took apart the engine, shedding his over shirt to leave him in a sleeveless t-shirt as the sun beat down on him. He could only just make out the slightly pinkish outline of his handprint on Dean’s shoulder and the sight of it there, on display, took his breath away.

He knew then that if he didn’t do this, didn’t tell Dean how he felt then he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Steeling himself for rejection, he made his way down into the salvage yard and began to wind through the cars towards where he knew Dean to be. As he got closer he could hear music, Dean having brought out Bobby’s old radio to accompany him as he worked. It was some kind of rock song that he didn’t recognise, but Dean was humming along to it, so he must’ve at least known it.

As he made it into the clearing where Dean was, he paused and just watched him for a moment; the way his hands moved expertly over the engine, his head bobbing up and down in time the music, and the way his taught body leaned over the car, t-shirt riding up a little to flash a band of the smoothest, white skin.

“Everything okay Cas?” Dean asked without turning. How he knew he was there, Castiel would never know.

“You’re leaving in a couple of days,” Castiel said as he stepped forward so that he could lean on the side of the car as Dean stood up straight.

“Yeah, need to get moving again,” Dean nodded. “You coming with or staying here?”

Castiel found it hard to concentrate as he looked at Dean, the man had a large smudge of grease down his cheek and Castiel wanted nothing more than to reach out and rub it off.

“I uh, I think I’ll be staying here,” he said quietly, “Bobby knows a guy who can get me a job.”

Dean nodded, “You gonna get your own place?” he asked curiously.

“Hopefully. I’ll need somewhere for Claire to stay when she comes to visit, and uh…” he paused as he stepped forward so that he was as close to Dean as he had been in the kitchen the other day, “you’d be welcome to stay there too. Anytime you wanted.”

Dean smiled a little, “Thanks Cas, but I got my room here at Bobby’s and…”

“That’s not what I meant Dean,” Castiel told him.

Dean raised an eyebrow at him, wondering just what it was he did mean then. Castiel answered him by reaching out and curling his hand around his shoulder, slotting it against the scar he left there three years ago.

“Sioux Falls is more or less your home now,” he said softly, closing the distance between them, “but I would like it if instead of coming home to Bobby’s, you came home to me.”

“Cas?” Dean asked, his voice a little hoarse.

“You’re the reason Amelia threw me out,” Castiel told him. “I… she found out I was in love with you.”

Dean stared at him and Castiel could see the cogs in his brain working as fast as possible to process that information, “You love me?” he finally asked.

Castiel nodded, “More than I have ever loved anyone.”

Dean gave him a small smile before he leaned down and closed the distance between them, capturing Castiel’s lips with his own.

It was a soft, almost chaste kiss, but it was enough to have Castiel’s insides melting. When Dean pulled back to look at him, Castiel couldn’t help but smile and slid the hand that was still on Dean’s shoulder, up to wrap around Dean’s neck and pull him down into a deeper, more heated kiss.

Dean dropped the rag he’d been wiping his hands on and wrapped his arms around Castiel’s body to pull him close. Castiel, too, wrapped himself around Dean, their bodies aligning perfectly against each other’s as Dean pushed Castiel up against the side of the car.

Feeling Dean holding him like that, pining him to the old dodge, finally kissing him the way he had dreamed of kissing him for so long now, Castiel couldn’t help but let out a little moan and thrust his hips against Dean’s.

Dean pulled back from the kiss and leaned against Castiel’s forehead with his own, both of them panting for breath.

“I love you too,” he said so quietly that Castiel barely heard it.

“I know,” Castiel told him as he slowly trailed a finger down Dean’s cheek.

Dean smiled again and leaned into kiss him once more, only this time, there was less hunger and desperate need to devour each other… although it was still slightly apparent, especially when Dean thrust back against Castiel and made them both moan into each other’s mouths.

Dean then stood back and used his grip on Castiel to move him into the backseat of the dodge, which, while there were no doors or glass to give them ultimate privacy, was large and comfortable and allowed for the both of them to get a lot closer.

Castiel pulled Dean down on top of him as he lay back on the leather, reattaching his mouth to Dean’s as soon as he could. Dean leaned on one of his elbows, while his free hand trailed all the way down Castiel’s body and then pushed up and under his t-shirt to gently caress the skin underneath, making Castiel’s breath hitch.

As he arched into Dean’s touch, Castiel brought his own hands down and pulled at Dean’s t-shirt, dragging it up his body to reveal more and more of that delicious skin. He stroked his hands across his lower back before one hand trailed up to splay itself right between Dean’s shoulder blades, while the other went south and squeezed the rump of Dean’s ass.

Dean groaned and thrust down again, letting Castiel feel just how aroused he was. Castiel squeezed his ass one more time before he brought his hand back up and began to lift Dean’s t-shirt off of him completely.

As the t-shirt was dropped onto the floor, Dean smiled down at him and began pulling at Castiel’s t-shirt in return. Castiel sat himself up long enough to allow Dean to remove the item and then they were falling back down onto the leather and Dean’s mouth was attaching itself to a nipple and making Castiel groan.

He thread his hand into Dean’s hair, his fingers gently massaging his skull as Dean licked his way up his chest, trailing the outline of his tattoo before capturing his lips in another, bruising kiss.

From that point on, things became almost frantic. The feel of skin on skin was both driving them over the edge with the need to feel more and they hurriedly unbuckled belts and pulled down flies to free the prize waiting inside.

Castiel pushed Dean’s jeans and underwear off his hips until they were sitting just at the top of his thighs, all the important bits out of their confines and readily available to his touch. However, before Castiel could get a grip of him, Dean batted his hand away and yanked on his jeans, forcing Castiel to lift his hips up. Dean pulled at both his jeans and boxers at the same time until they were both in a similar state of dress.

Looking up, Castiel met Dean’s gaze as the man above him reached out and gently took hold of him and began to stroke his hand up and down. Castiel gasped and arched his back before reaching forward himself.

As soon as he took hold of Dean, the man above him let out a small ‘hmph’ in appreciation and fell back down on top of him, allowing Castiel to pull him into a quick kiss as they began to steadily pump each other.

They lay there, cheek to cheek, moaning and groaning into each other’s ears as they hurriedly tried to get each other off. Neither of them lasted as long as they would’ve hoped. It had obviously been a very long time since Dean had had a sexual partner, and Castiel, while having Jimmy’s memories, was still relatively new to all of this and had only ever had one other person touch him before and it hadn’t felt anything like this.

His spine began to tingle and the muscles in his legs began to twitch and then he was holding onto the back of Dean’s head for dear life as his back arched up off the seat again and the most amazing sense of pleasure washed over him. Above him, Dean wasn’t doing much better, his entire body stilling as he spilled his seed between them almost simultaneously with Castiel.

They lay there and held each other for a moment, both of them panting for breath as they tried to calm themselves down. Dean turned his head and pulled Castiel into a lazy kiss.

Castiel smiled into the kiss and let both his hands wander down and around Dean’s back to rest on his exposed ass, where his soft strokes made Dean shiver.

“I missed you,” Castiel whispered into his ear after a few moments.

“I missed you too,” Dean said. “And just so you know, I will always come home to you.”

Castiel smiled and reached up to kiss him again, reminding himself to send Sam a fruit basket or something to say thanks for pushing him. It was the least he could do for having happiness delivered onto his lap in such a way.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

_SIX MONTHS LATER_

The move to Sioux Falls hadn’t been as hard for Claire as she thought it would be. After Dad had left, or rather, after he’d been thrown out, her mom had more or less spiralled out of control.

Okay, so maybe not completely out of control like she saw some mom’s do on the TV, but more than usual for her mom.

She had been twelve when Castiel first came into their lives, and as such had had to grow up pretty quickly. She had seen and experienced things that other kids her age couldn’t even begin to fathom, so she understood completely why her mom had been upset to realise that her dad, her new dad – although he was really only half new – was in love with someone else, a man. Of course it had to hurt, she just hadn’t expected her mom to react and leave the way she had.

As soon as the divorce was through, Claire had been sent to spend the weekend at Grandma Novak’s. Two week’s later and she had still been there. When Grandma Novak drove them back to the house, it was to find a removal van outside, loading all of her things onto it.

Of course, Grandma Novak was a force to be reckoned with and she had climbed out of her car and started barking at the men, demanding to know what was going on. The removal men didn’t really know anything apart from that they were to deliver all of the furniture to an address in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Both Claire and her grandmother had known that was where her father was, that the address given was of his new house he had moved into the previous month, and so while her grandmother followed the removal van across two state lines, Claire tried to call her dad. She finally managed to get hold of him when they were half way there and he told her that he knew nothing about it and that he hadn’t heard from her mom at all, although he had had people (hunters) looking for her since she failed to go back for Claire two weeks ago.

When they arrived in Sioux Falls, they were outside a small brick house and in the drive was parked a familiar black Chevrolet.

Her dad had came flying out of the house, closely followed by Dean Winchester (who she had finally found out was her Dad’s boyfriend) who went to speak with the removal guys while her dad came over to her and swept her up into his arms – it was only the second time she’d got to see him since he’d left.

Grandma Novak had been quick to jump out of the car - extremely sprite for a woman her age – and bypassed her and her father and headed straight for Dean.

Claire let go of her Dad and stood and watched in horror as her grandmother tapped Dean on the shoulder who turned round ready for a fight, but changed completely when he realised who it was he was talking to, instead politely shaking her hand and calling her ma’am and well, just being all… nice.

And then Grandma, who she’d been sure would’ve hated Dean on principle, was smiling and laughing at whatever it was he was saying and doting on him like he was the second coming.

“Is it just me, or is that really creepy?” her dad had asked her.

“No, it’s not just you,” Claire replied, before he stepped away from her and made to intervene.

Turned out that her Grandma had just been wanting to thank Dean for looking after her dad, bringing him back to her and making him happier than he had ever been before. While Dean had blushed, her Dad had managed to steer Grandma away from him and asked Dean to instruct the removal men to take Claire’s things into the spare room.

Claire had helped of course, smiling at Dean when he shouted at the removal guys for being rough with her furniture and not to break anything. She knew that she didn’t know him that well, and that it was probably because he cared about her dad that he was being so nice, but it still felt good to realise that she now had someone else on her side while her mom had been gone.

Because her dad more or less already had all his own belongings – he took a couple of the bookshelves and the smaller sofa as well as some of the dinner dishes and things like photo albums – everything that didn’t fit in his tiny house, had been sent to his friend Bobby’s, who Dean said could do with redecorating.

Anyway, it had turned out that her mom had wanted a fresh start and had sold the house but decided to send everything to her dad, including Claire herself. It hurt, it really hurt.

To think that her mom didn’t want anything to do with her because her marriage had broken down? It hadn’t been Claire’s fault, which both her dad and Dean had been quick to remind her of, but as Sam (now Uncle Sam) added, some people just couldn’t handle being around the ones they loved while they tried to sort themselves out, and he promised her that she would be back… he just didn’t know when.

So, she moved in with her dad in Sioux Falls.

He worked at an occult bookstore. The owner had inherited it from his father but had no interest in the subject, so her dad practically ran the place and was well paid for it. It had allowed him to rent his house, which he later told her that Dean helped pay money towards too.

The whole thing with her Dad and Dean had been a bit weird at first, especially since Dean called him ‘Cas’. She knew that he was both Jimmy and Castiel, but everyone in Pontiac had been calling him Jimmy and that’s how she had thought about him, but here in Sioux Falls, everyone called him Cas. But, Dean wasn’t there as much as she had thought he would be at first. Maybe only a week out of every month.

Her dad had explained how Dean was still hunting for the time being, although they had talked about him retiring soon. Uncle Bobby struggled to manage his salvage yard on his own and Uncle Sam and Dean would always spend their time off from hunting scrapping the cars in his junkyard.

And every night, Dean would come home – for this was his home now – and have dinner with the both of them, before they all sat down to watch the TV. He and her Dad usually curled up on the couch while she took one of the big chairs. Then she would go to bed and leave them by themselves… although it wouldn’t be the first time she had gotten up for a glass of water or to use the bathroom and caught them making out on the couch like they were the teenagers and not her. It should have freaked her out that her dad would behave in such a way, but she’d never seen him be so care free with her mom and something about it just made her happy.

She liked Dean. He was cool, and he made her Dad happy not to mention he all out encouraged her to eat junk food and argued her case to get an anti possession tattoo. But her dad said no, not until she was eighteen because it had to be placed over the heart and a tattoo like that on a minor would have social services knocking at his door.

She had started high school now too, getting enrolled in the local school just a couple of blocks away. At first people tried to make fun of her for have two gay dads, but she didn’t see anything wrong with it and outright ignored it so they soon let it drop and it was seen as being kinda cool.

And then she got asked out on a date.

Now she had been out on sort of dates before, but that was to the mall or Burger King on a Saturday afternoon. Not to the movies on a Saturday evening. It was her first proper date and she was both extremely excited about it, and dreading it at the same time.

Nate (who was actually a year older than her) was supposed to be picking her up at six thirty. He was early. Which was good and bad at the same time. It let her know that he was eager, however, it also meant that she wasn’t quite ready and he was left alone with her dad… and Dean.

As she gathered her purse and checked her hair one more time, she listened in to see if she could hear what kind of threats Dean might be sending her way. But she couldn’t hear him talking at all. All she could hear was her father’s deep voice and Nate’s incredibly nervous one exchanging pleasantries.

Her Dad must’ve warned Dean to behave himself.

Thankful that her dad could control Dean somewhat – even if she did love him, she didn’t want him scaring off her first potential proper boyfriend – she turned off her bedroom light and made her way down the hall towards the voices.

“Hey,” she said to Nate as she approached.

“Oh, hey,” Nate said with a very nervous smile, a sheen of sweat on his forehead, “you look really pretty.”

Claire grinned at him, “Thanks,” she said before she heard a familiar clicking sound.

Turning to look into the living room, she saw that Dean had laid out every gun and weapon he owned on the coffee table and was making a show of cleaning them all. She rolled her eyes at him, “What’s with the dramatics?” she asked him.

Dean looked up at her with a raised eyebrow, “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he said, cocking one of his shot guns and popping an empty shell out of it.

“Dad,” Claire protested as she turned to her father.

Her Dad though, just smiled, “Just let him have his fun Claire,” he said as he patted her on the shoulder.

Claire shook her head and turned to Nate, “We should go.”

“No later than ten,” her dad said as he held the door open, “or I set Dean loose.”

Claire was sure that on anyone else, her scowl would make them cower, her dad merely grinned wider as he waved them off. As she made her way down the path towards Nate’s car, she could hear Dean’s voice behind her, admiring it. At least Nate would win some extra brownie points for that as Dean would definitely like to take a look under the hood.

“So,” Nate said as they climbed into the car, “your dads are kinda scary.”

Claire looked up at the house, smiling when she saw her dad all but wrestling with Dean to drag him back into the house so he could close the door.

“Nah. They’re pussy cats really,” she told him.

Nate nodded, no longer looking ridiculously nervous anymore as he started up the car and began to drive, “So what’s that like then? Having two dads? Isn’t it weird?”

“It was a little weird at first,” Claire said with a shrug. “But, I’ve never seen my Dad so happy as he is with Dean, so I quickly got used to it.”

“Cool.”

“Yeah. It is.”

THE END


End file.
